Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Snowflake Vampire

Gotta love the Renaissance Festival. Although not seen in this photo, this woman had fangs to go along with her powder blue French maid's costume and snowflake make-up. Quite a sight. The greenery in the background was from some of the numerous trees with ivy scattered around the fairgrounds. Nikon D200 at 116mm, 1/160 sec at f/5.6. Light from small softbox from camera left provided by Doug Haass. I don't think Doug shot this woman, but somehow I managed about 10-12 shots of her -- probably my high for the day of any one person. She told us she made her own costume and did her own make up. She really did a nice job. I did a little touch up to the eyes in Photoshop -- highlighted the iris a little more, and added new catchlights.

I don't see the ghoul here at all. I like the unusual angle of her head, it works well and some of that must be due to the fact that she has absolutely no double chin in that position! The combination of her costume and jewelry is certainly unusual too... I don't think I have ever seen jinglebells and cameos together before, with several bows in her hair, snowflakes. I would not have gotten the French Maid part. Her eyes look fantastic (great catchlight work!), the light on her face is wonderful and soft, her skin looks great too and I like the angle of her face toward the camera a lot, as well as her position in the frame. The viewer can tell that something a little strange is going on, but she is certainly creative! This portrait shows a lot of that, and I think flatters her too.

Her skin tones lean towards more blue or washed out, which prompted me to classify it ghoulish. My posted shot here http://dhaass.smugmug.com/Photography/Street-Photography/Texas-Renaissance-Festival/10092580_dUcQc#736840032_UzsNZ-A-LB is a little warmer and does not convey what she portrayed as well as Steve's did.

I definitely attributed it to post processing. I think it's interesting seeing how different photographers put their own slant on a photo. I'm going to try that Silver Efex B&W layer technique next chance I get. Nice job.

The lighting and her expression are fine. I do think that there is a little too much background on the left. If the background had been totally blurred and a nice bokeh, I do not think it would be a problem. But here, I think there is a little too much detail in the background. It seems to be competing with her.